Denial

Question:  Are you living in denial?  I think at times we all enter the gates of denial.  This not only affects the non-believer but also the believer as well.

What are some of the ways we live in denial?

*What about obesity?  Many of us are overweight but we choose to do nothing about it.

*What about being out of shape, we know we are at times, but sometimes we refuse to exercise.

*Think about stress, many people die of heart attacks because of stress, so what do we do about it, nothing, we ignore it thinking it will just go away.

*How many times do we fall into dire circumstances and situations that we could have prevented, but we ignored the warning signs just to regret it later when it was too late?

Counselors run into this problem all the time.  It makes no sense to pay good money to a counselor and live in denial doing nothing with the counsel that is given.  Some people get counseling for years with very little change, many times it is not the information given that is the problem, it is our response to that information.

Same with going to a doctor, how many of us go then ignore what he tells us to do?  Many times people won’t even take the medicine that he prescribes.   

Sometimes we live in denial from all these things

The same thing happens when it comes to the Word of God.

Many people don’t want to hear the word “sin” they like “mistakes” better.

Many don’t want to hear about “Hell” no they want to hear about “Heaven.”

Many don’t want to hear about “chastisement or correction” but they want to hear about God’s “love, mercy and grace.”

Many don’t want to hear about the “fear” of the Lord but they love to hear that there is “no condemnation.”

Many don’t want to hear that the “wages of sin is death” but they will listen to the “gift of God is eternal life” through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God doesn’t want us to ignore the things we don’t want to hear because the things we want to ignore are the very things we need to hear the most.  God doesn’t want us to hear only the things we like to hear, no, He wants us to hear the things we need to hear.

When the Lord says to take up your cross, deny yourself and follow Him our flesh recoils at the very thought of denying ourselves because many of us have learned to be very selfish, thanks to our sin nature.

What about these words?  “It is better to give than receive.”  Many of us, if we were honest, would prefer to change these words around to say, “it is better to receive than to give.”

What about the verse that says, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you?”  Many would prefer, “do unto others before they do it unto you.”  There are many verses some of us would like to ignore, or deny, that they are there at all.

This is how many Cults got started; they interpreted the Word to say what they wanted it to say.  They live in denial of the truth to their destruction and shame.          

There is another kind of denial that Jesus talked about and that was denying Him before men.  Jesus said, “if you deny me before men I will deny you before my Heavenly Father.”  There are many Christians and Non–Christians that have denied the Lord today.

What happens to a non–believer when they deny Jesus and die in that state? They have sealed their fate and Hell will be their destination.

What is the fate of a believer if they deny Jesus, and many of us have?

Let’s see what happened to Peter when he denied the Lord, not only once, but three times, after he denied that he ever would, saying he would die first.  Check it out in Matthew 26: verses 30–35.

After Jesus was falsely accused, it says in Matthew 26: verses 69–75  “Now Peter sat without in the palace and a damsel came unto him, saying ‘thou also wast with Jesus of Galilee’.  But he denied before them all saying, ‘I know not what thou sayest.’ And when he was gone out into the porch another maid saw him, and said unto them that were there, ‘This fellow was also with Jesus of Nazareth.’  And again he denied with an oath, ‘I do not know the man.’  And after a while came unto him they that stood by, and said to Peter, ‘surely thou also art one of them: for thy speech bewrayeth thee.’  Then began he to curse and swear saying, ‘I know not the man.’  And immediately the cock crowed.  And Peter remembered the word of Jesus which said unto him, ‘before the cock crow thou shalt deny me thrice’ and he went out and wept bitterly.”

The answer to the question I asked earlier, what would be the fate of a believer if they denied the Lord is this.  Look at the last sentence in verse 75, what did Peter do?  It says he went out and wept bitterly, in other words Peter repented.

And don’t forget all the other disciples forsook Jesus and fled also.  Praise the Lord He forgave all of them.  The Lord always seeks the humble and contrite heart.

If you have denied the Lord, you need to confess and repent and the Lord will forgive you also.  Praise the Lord!  God Bless you and have a great day.

P.S. please leave a comment so I know what you think of this blogspot.  If you would like to read a lesson on a certain topic please let me know.  Thanks!